Mozza
It’s Carrick you know
Nope, we've played shite with or without him
Jose doesn't know what he is doingHe's the least of our problems. I feel we are automatically a more solid and compose team when he's playing. As for topic, Andreas Pereira should be the one dictating attacks alongside Pogba. Not sure why Jose doesn't play Andreas at all now. Come on Jose, give him a chance and see what he can do. You play him in all of the pre season games and was thoroughly impressed and yet dropped him after one and a half games into the new season
Lack of movement from forward players, Lukaku in particular. They have no one making runs in front of them, offering themselves or dragging defenders out of position.Matic, Fellaini and Pogba take way too many touches. Two of them dont have the passing range and the other always wants to fecking play a killer pass
We lack a Carrick/Scholes/Keane who can see and play that early pass.
Not until much later many fans took for granted Carrick
Let the ball do the work. Keep it simple
Who are they going to pass to with the DM standing a few feet away from them unmarked?None of our CBs can/do build up from the back either. Our buildup play is absolutely wretched.
I assume he (Matic) is doing that, at least in part, because our CBs either can't build up, or have been told not to build up. Since Mourinho arrived we've been relying on our midfielders to drop deep and collect the ball, which is disastrous for our possession game. Again, I don't know if this is a result of instruction, or necessity.Who are they going to pass to with the DM standing a few feet away from them unmarked?
Yeah its impossible to know. All I know is he does it regardless of who we have at the back and Andreas did it when he played too.I assume he (Matic) is doing that, at least in part, because our CBs either can't build up, or have been told not to build up. Since Mourinho arrived we've been relying on our midfielders to drop deep and collect the ball, which is disastrous for our possession game. Again, I don't know if this is a result of instruction, or necessity.
Speaking of which, will Ander be available for the Chelsea game? I hope so.Needs to be dropped once Ander is back. Ander, Pogba & Fred should be our starting 3. Perreira also needs to start getting into the rotation ahead of Matic.
I feel the same. Would like to give it a try against weaker teams.I feel he is better suited to be a ball playing CB in a back two or three. If he has 2 mobile midfielders in front of him it would be best!
Keep it then. If there are no forward options play it sideways. Quickly Recycle the ball. Be fecking patientLack of movement from forward players, Lukaku in particular. They have no one making runs in front of them, offering themselves or dragging defenders out of position.
This represents my view as well. He should not be asked or expected to contribute much forward. Mainly because he is sort of useless in attack and one of the least creative players we have.I think that if Matic was used as an out and out defensive midfielder and just shield the centre backs whilst letting Pogba plus whichever one of Fred, Pereira or Herrera that’s also playing play further forward then there wouldn’t be a problem.
I would argue that just this is the major problem with our attacking play, both in possession and on the counter. Especially the latter, its essential for the #9 to be able hold up the ball for one or two seconds when we sit as deep as we do, to give the other players a chance to transition.While I do think Matic is past his best, I also think you can go through practically every player in the team and ask this question in one regard or another, for instance do we struggle to build attacks because the Mourinho method is to build off the #9 and we have a #9 with a first touch like a lndmine so our attacks constantly fizzle out? Do we struggle to build attacks because whatever front 3 combo we play the movement is so poor and static? Do our attacks struggle because we seem to have so little synergy between our wide players and fullbacks? A lot of it is simply how badly we are coached in attack and this constant playing of both Fellaini and Matic isn't helping as it takes away a lot of mobility and dynamism in midfield, both would be better with Fred or Pereira in there with them .
He is the prime reason for United stuggles.He is one of several reasons.
He was the reason we conceded very few goals last season (with cameo performances from ddg). Hence the reason we finished 2nd.
This season he is not even half the player he was last season and as a result you see our defence exposed to the fullest.
Matic isn’t our ‘attacking’ problem. He is the foundation to what we launch attacks confidently from and unfortunately that foundation is very fragile and it is putting us on the back foot and not the opponents.
Mourinho wanted to buy a top class CB so he didn’t have to rely on Matic too much in defence, so that’s a double negative there.
In regards to our actual attack - we lost our rythym and cohesion in attack when we signed Sanchez last January. We had 6 games in the first half of the season where we scored 4 goals or more and you could see clear patterns of lethal attacking play with martial down our left. It’s no concidence we lost all that since he got shafted down to the bench.
So sort out our defence/holding midfielder and then worry about attack. Meanwhile, let martial play on the wing. He just elevates us to a whole new level. We don’t have a player that far forward that can actually dribble effectively and put the whole back line on the back foot allowing players like rashford, mata, Lingard, Pogba, Fred and even Lukaku to punish them as a result.
The cycle since January has been: Sanchez gets ball, we move forward in anticipation of an attack building, Sanchez loses the ball horrendously, ball gets played quickly to our back line/midfield, Matic no longer has the athleticism to deal with it, they’re now 1 on 1 with one of our back 4 - they’re shit - and they create a chance. We as a result become less ambitious in attack because they see we don’t have a rock solid defence and we lose confidence in attack and fear losing the ball hence losing creativity. Sanchez thinks this is his cue to try more audacious playground dribbling - situation gets worse. We as a result play our best football when we are behind because we no longer have the fear of losing (nothing to lose), hence we don’t fear losing the ball and it becomes a feed forward cycle where opponents now step back because they see our confidence. See the pattern? Does that look familiar? Seems to have taken Mourinho a while to notice it too. Glad he finally has and has dropped Sanchez.